Nigerian Govt Dares States, insists on Direct Allocation to LGs From June

The Nigerian government on Wednesday reiterated its position that local government councils in the country will start getting direct allocation from June 1.

This was contained in a statement sent to DAILY POST by the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU).

The statement was in apparent response to grumblings by states over the directive that federal allocations to LGAs be disbursed directly to their respective bank accounts starting from June 2019.

In the order which warned financial institutions, public servants and other stakeholders to comply, the FG said investigation uncovered that cash withdrawal and transactions of the State, Joint Local Government Accounts (SJLGA), poses biggest corruption, money laundering and security threats at the grassroots levels and to the entire financial system and the country as a whole.

Today’s statement by Ahmed Dikko NFIU, Chief Media Analyst, reads, “The unit maintains its understanding of the 1999 constitution that no debit is allowed on any local government funds unless and until the funds are credited to and reach the bank accounts of a local government in any state of the federation.

“The provision of the cumulative cash withdrawal not exceeding N500,000 per day is also firmly in place effective 1st June 2019.

“We observed isolated comments to the contrary in the past few days which in our assessment only amounted to wilful misinterpretation of the 1999 constitution and therefore, of no consequences to the operations of the entire financial system.

“The provision of the guidelines to the financial institutions was also on account of legitimate powers provided by the NFIU Act 2018 and any violations of the said guidelines will be sanctioned appropriately.”